Ladle-stopper-operating mechanism.



Patented. Dec. 5, 19M.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

Elma 144101 G. A. WETTENGEL.

LADLE STOPPER OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED OCT.20. l9l5.

G. A. WETTENGEL.

LADLE STOPPER OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED ocT.20. 1915.

10 M g; i

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@EORGHE ALEXANDER WElllllEllltil-El), 0h fill. LQUIS, MISNTUEI.

ILAIDLE-SJIQPPElh-QPEMTING- MECHANISM.

neonate.

specification oi Letters Patent.

Patented Dec, 5, idle,

Application filed llctober to, 1am. Serial No. 56,905.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that l, Gnonon A. Warranonn, citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful improvements in lLadle-Stopper-Uperating ll/lechanism; and I do hereby declare the following' to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My inventionconsists in the novel features hereinafter described, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings in which it have illustrated one form oi my invention selected by me for purposes oi illustration, and the said invention is fully disclosed in the following description and claims,

Referring to the said drawings, Figure l is a diagrammatic 'view of the interior oil a portion of a steel mill showing in elevation my ladle and improved means for operatin the stopper of the same. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view oil a portion of the ladle and stopper, the stopper operating means being elevation. l ig. 3 is a front view cl a por tion of the ladle and the mechanism for op erating the stopper of the same.v t is a vertical sectional view of the fluid cylinder used for raising and lowering the ladle stopper. Fig. 5 is a view-taken on line 5, Fig. 53. Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view oil a modilied form of fluid cylinder.

lln order that my invention may be clearly understood, l deem it desirable to brietly describe the present manual means and method of operating" the stopper oi a ladle for molten steel. lln teeming, say a sinty ton ladle of molten steel, the ladle which is provided with a refractory lining", stopper and stopper operating mechanism, is supported and conveyed from the furnace to the molds, and from mold to mold by a crane, which is provided with a trolley and by which the ladle is carried and also raised or lowered as required. The ladle which has previously been internally heated, is placed under the tapping spout of the furnace by the crane, and the furnace is then tapped, the molten metal flowing out and filling the ladle. 'lhe ladle is then-raised and carried over one of a series of cast iron molds and the ladleman standing on a platform adja cent the molds, operates a lever while his helper removes a. key stopper mechanism in its closed position and which clamps the which key has been placed in position-prior to tapping the furnace to prevent the surging metal from opening the stopper. .lhe ladleman lowers the lever controlling the stopper mechanism, thereby raising the stopper allowing the metal to enter the mold, until the latter is tilled and he then raises the lever and lowers thestopper to close the ladle aperture when the mold is filled. The ladle is then conveyed from mold to mold which are filled consecutively until the ladle is empty. This method is known as top casting and while other methods have been used, they need not be described.

it has been found in practice that the disadvantages of operating a ladle stopper in the manner above described, are numerous, owing to the extreme heat oil the molten metal and its liability to erupt and scatter 4 over the operators. lit will therefore be apparent, that the ladleman and his helper standing on the platform adjacent the molds, occupy very dangerous positions, owing to the fact that the gases escaping from the metal while the mold is filling, lreep the metal in violent motion and eruption, frequently causes a spray oil hot metal to fall upon and burn the operators. Again many operators are fatally burned by the molten metal escaping from a ladle, overturning when a rope, chain, hook or other part of the hoisting mechanism breaks, which is liable to occur at any ime. it also occasionally happens, alter partly emptying the ladle, that the metal will violently react, the escaping gases throwing liquid metal to the root olithe building, often burning oil the trolley wires, destroying the trolley motor and rendering it extremely dangerous for the operators, it being necessary to cover them with wet saclrs to lreep their clothes from igniting. A. further and very serious objection resides in the fact that not inil'requently the stopper will only partially close the nozzle opening, due to imperfect construction, thereby allowing a stream of metal to escape when the nozzle is supposed to have been closed- Again the nozzle occasionally breaks, owing to the sudden eupansion, when the hot metal strikes it, thereby causing a lealr, so that while the ladle is being conveyed from mold to mold, the liquid metal from a leaky nozzle striking the top edges of the molds, splashes upon the operators and frequently burns them seriously. llt is to overcome these objections and --obviate til) till

till

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ice I llll . sliding plate 16 and the tapered lower end' my improvements, the operation of the ladle;

stopper is entirely under the control of the craneman, who is always a suflicient distance away from the ladle and molds to insure his safety.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 represents the side walls of 1a portion of a steel mill; 2 the crane tracks; 3 the crane; 4 the crane trolley; 5-the ladle cable; 6 the ladle and 7 the crane cage, all of which are of the usual construction and form no part of my present invention.

In teeming, the ladle 6, which has previously been internally heated, is placed under the tapping spout 8 of the furnace not shown) by the crane 3. The furnace is t en tapped, allowing the molten metal to flow out of the spout and fill the ladle. The ladle .is now carried by the crane trolley over one of a series of cast iron molds 9 and the ladle stopper, hereinafter described, is raised to permit the molten metal to flow from the ladle and fill said mold.

My improvements consist in mechanical means for raising and lowering the ladle stopper to fill the molds 9 and to this end my invention comprises a bracket 10, secured to the exterior of the ladle by any suitable means and provided with hookshaped members 11 in which are swiveled trunnions 12 of a guide plate 13. The guide plate is adjusted to a desirable position relative to said ladle by screws 14, one of which is placed ateach end of said plate, and in .a dove-tailed guide 15 of said plate, a sliding plate 16 is mounted for vertical reciprocation. A socket 17 having a tapered aperture 18 .is rigid with the upper end of the 19 of an angular rod 20 is passed through said aperture and secured to said socket by a Wedge key 21. The horizontal portion of said angular rod 20 terminates in an enlargement 22 having an elongated slot 23, through which passes the upper end 24 of the ladle stopper 25, which WIll now be described.

The ladle stopper com rises a metal rod '26 which is provided at 1ts lower end with a refractory plug 27 secured to the rod by a pin 28, which enters a recex in-the lower end of said rod and is secured by a key 29,

"""heat,"are"a series of sleeves 32, which are of refractory material and are clamped togather by a nut 33, screwed on the upper end of the rod 26. Nuts 34 engaging the upper end 24 of the stopper adjustably secure the same on the horizontal portion of the angular rod 20, and the plug 27 of the stopper is adapted to engage a nozzle or spout 35 in the bottom of the ladle for the purpose of closing said nozzle.

Mounted on the exterior of the ladle 6 below the bracket 10 are a plurality of ing mechanism, hereinafter described, the

link moves the sliding plate 16 either up or down as the case may be.

The mechanical power means, for raising and lowering the stopper will now be described. Secured to the, exterior of the ladle and positioned at one side of the sliding plate 16, is a support'41 having a series of pairs of vertically arranged apertures 42 and a pin 43, which is secured to the support by a chain 44. This fpin is adapted to pass through either pair 0 the alined apertures of said support and also through an aperture in the lower end of a piston 45 of the fluid cylinder 46 for the purpose of adjustably securing said piston to said support 41 and the upper end of the cylinder 46 is secured by a chain supported pin 47 to an arm 48 which extends from and is rigidly secured to the sliding plate 16. The upper end of the piston 45 is provided with cup leathers 49 and clamping rings 50 and the diameter of the piston is nearly as great as the interior of the cylinder 46, whereby a chamber 51 of large diameter is formed above the piston head and a smaller chamber 52 is formed beneath the same. Carried by the crane cage 7 is a compressed fiuid tank 53 which may be supplied by any suitable means (not shown) and a pipe 54 extends from the same. Secured to the upper end of said pipe is a connection 55 carrying a valve controlled by a handle 56 and a pipe 57 is secured to said connection. The free end of the pipe 57 is connected by a flexible hose 58 with a nipple 59 which communicates with the chamber 52 of the cylinder 46 whereby when the valve, con trolled by the handle 56 is opened, the fluid will constantly enter the chamber 52 and tend to force the cylinder 46 downwardly and with it the arm 48, the plate 16, the rod 20 and the stopper 25 to close the ladle nozzle. A three-way cook 60 having a handle 61 communicates with the connection isomer by a short pipe 62 and said cock is conthe handle 61 is depressed, permitting the nected to the chamber 51 of the fluid cylinder 46 by a pipe 63 and a flexible hose 6%.

The operation of the above described mechanism is as follows: Assuming that the ladle 6 is in position over a mold 9 the craneman raises the handle 61 of the valve admitting fluid under pressure from the tank 53 to the upper chamber 51 of the cylinder 4:6, raising the stopper mechanism through the connecting arm 48 and permitting the molten metal to escape through the nozzle 35. A screw 65, which is attached to the sliding. plate 16, is adapted to abut against the lower end'of the guide plate 13 and acts as a stop, whereby the stopper may be regulated to open the same a predetermined distance each time the cylinder 46 is raised. The area of the underside of the piston head is just large enough, under constant pressure, to close the stopper when the fluid 1s released from the chamber 51 and when the compressed fluid is admitted to the chamber 51, the fluid in the chamber 52 will be compressed on account of the difienence in areas acted upon. To close thestopper fluid from the chamber 51 to escape through an exhaust nozzle 66 to the atmosphere and a valve under the control of a handle 67 regulates the speed at which the stopper closes. The constant pressure in the chamber 52, forces the sliding plate 16 downwardly, closing the stopper and halting the flow of metal. As shown in the drawings, the cyl inder 46 is placed on the ladle with its open end downward, so that in case the metal hll should splash over the top of the ladle, it would not prevent the cylinder from working, which would be likely it the cylinder Was-reversed. Should the connecting hose, pipe or air pressure fail, the valve controlled by the ban le 56 can be closed, the'hose uncoupled and the stopper manually operated by the lever 39 in the well known manner,

until the break is repaired.

In Fig. 6, l[ have illustrated a modification of my fluid cylinder in which a spring 68 is provided in the small chamber 69 of the cylinder, for the purpose of closing the stopper, and in this form the pipe and hose for turnishin the small chamber 69 with compressed uid, are obviated. in order that the lfiuid cylinder and its piston may be easily detached from one ladle and attached to another, to obviate the necessity of equipping each. ladle. with a separate cylinder, l[

have provided the pins tit-and 47, heretofore described, which may be quickly inserted or removed. llt is very important that all molds should be filled at a uniform predetermined rate of speed, for if the molds are filled too rapidly, the gases will be entrapped, causing piping? or unsound ingots. In the methods heretofore employed,

the ladleman guesses at the rate of speed with which each mold is filled, while with my improved mechanism each mold is filled at the same uniform speed, thereby making a more homogeneous ingot. In some cases carriedby said ladle for actuating said stopper. 7

2. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopper for closing said nozzle, of a fluid cylinder provided on the ladle, a piston having a head arranged in said cylinder, means connecting said cylinder and said stopper, and means i91- introducing tluid to said cylinder above and below said piston head for raising and lowering said stopper.

3. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopper for closing said nozzle,

out a guide plate provided on said ladle, a

sliding plate mounted in said guide plate, means connecting said sliding plate and said stopper, and fluid pressure operated means carried by said ladle for raising and lowering said sliding plate and said stopper.

4. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopper for closing said nozzle, of a sliding plate arranged on said ladle, an angular rod connecting said plate and said stopper, and mechanical ower operated means carried by said ladle or raising and lowering said plate'and said stopper.

5. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopper for closing said nozzle, of a guide plate provided on said ladle, a sliding plate mounted in said guide plate, an ad ustable stop arranged on one of said plates and adapted to abut against the other plate for regulating the extent of travel of the stopper in one direction, means connecting said'sliding plate and said stopper, and means for raising and lowering said stopper.

6. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopper for closing said nozzle, of a sliding plate arranged on said ladle and provided with a'socket, an angular rod having one of its ends secured to said stopper and its other end secured in said socket, and fluid pressure operated means carried by said ladle for raising and lowering said plate and said stopper.

7. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopper for closing said nozzle,

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of mechanical power operated means for actuating said stopper, said power operated means comprising a cylinder member and a piston member working in the same, means for securing one of said members to said ladle and the other member to the stop er, and means for moving one-of said mem ers relative to the other member. 1

8. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopperfor closing the same, of fluid pressure operated means for actuating said stopper, and means connecting said fluid pressure operated means and said stopper, said fluid pressure operated-means comprising a cylinder which is secured to said connecting means, a piston provided in said cylinder and secured to said ladle, and means for introducing fluid pressure into said cylinder for raising and lowering the same.

9. The combination with a crane carrying a crane cage and a ladle provided with a nozzle, a stopper for closing said nozzle, of mechanical power operated means for actuating said stopper, controllin said mechanicalpower opera means provided in said crane cage, and means connecting said controlling means and said mechanical power operating means.

10. The combination with a ladle having a nozzle and a stopper for the same, of a fluid pressure cylinder, means connecting said cylinder and said stop er, a piston pro- GEORGE ALEXANDER WETTENGEL.

means for 

